


Finn/Poe Trilogy  Part 1: Man in Motion

by lordhadrian



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, First Order Poe Dameron, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pre-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Resistance Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 11:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13364088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordhadrian/pseuds/lordhadrian
Summary: Taking place after the events of "The Force Awakens", A plot to destroy the Resistance is discovered, and Poe races against time to save Finn and the Resistance fleet from destruction.





	Finn/Poe Trilogy  Part 1: Man in Motion

Finn/Poe Trilogy: Man In Motion

 

Finn lay in the medlab, still in a coma from his fight with Kylo Ren. Suffering brutal wounds, he lay in stasis as the medic droid tried to clean up his wounds.

Poe watched over him with a slow gaze of concern. He felt helpless, and all his want of action could not speed up the healing process.

Poe watched over him two days in a row. Then a third.

"Hang in there, buddy" he whispered. He held a cup of hot caf in his hands as he sat by sleeping Finn, hoping that some spark would wake him. Poe desperately wanted to see his smile once more. The droid politely leaned towards him.

"You need to rest, Commander, and I need to tend to the patient"

"Yes. Of course" Poe sighed. He got up slowly and wandered back to his quarters. The war was progressing against the First Order, and the destruction of the Star Killer base was a big step. But it paled to the price Poe feared he would pay. He was the hero, the legend. But he was alone, despite all his friends and admirers. The void he felt filled when he saw that Finn survived the struggle on Starkiller. It was a moment that felt complete. This turn of events weighed heavy on him, but he was also exhausted. Sleep would help him focus, and be energized. And Hope was in his heart for a better tomorrow.

 

But as the Resistance rested from their great victory, another person held hope for a better tomorrow as well. Captain Phasma recovered from her humiliation, and Finn's name was uttered upon her lips one more time. but unlike Poe, she had hoped for a more violent reunion with the scum. She reported to General Hux as quickly as possible. Though he was not happy with the turn of events against the First Order, He was practical, rather than emotional like Kylo Ren.

"It was deep cut we suffered recently, Captain. But our fortune will change, and it will be good fortune!" he prologued at her before talking about a plan for a counter attack.

"Yes sir" Phasma nodded, anticipating. Leia's fleet had escaped their grasp, and was hiding in a nearby system. The search for the rebel scum was slow and plodding with no results, yet Hux smiled with glee.

"I've concocted a scheme so brilliant, General Leia and her precious Resistance will be destroyed before she even realizes what has happened. Supreme Leader Snoke will be so impressed, he will have no choice but to grant me the title of 'Grand Marshall!"

He smiled coyly for a silent second "We have their fleet on a string!"

"On a string, sir? We haven't been able to find them since they destroyed our Starkiller!"

He walked up to the edge of the bridge and proudly watched the fleet in front of his command ship. "I have infiltrated the Resistance fleet with a spy that will reveal their location, and lead them into a trap. I let them escape not because we could not destroy them right away.....but I wanted them to THINK they still had hope before I utterly destroy them!"

Phasma listened, excited by his wild eyed enthusiasm

"The Death of Hope is even more tragic than any physical death. Killing a rebel only makes them a martyr.....but killing their Hope, Phasma....THAT IS TRUE VICTORY!! And when BB9 reveals them to us once and for all, General Leia will know! SHE WILL KNOW THAT IT WAS I WHO HAD BEATEN HER!!!!" he froths "You, Captain Phasma, will lead the fighter squads to obliterate them in their moment of weakness! The time is almost right!! When the sun rises on the Imperial Palace at Coruscant in a matter of hours, When a new day dawns for the First Order, when General Leia and Admiral Ackbar think they are safest, we will burn out their spark of hope BEFORE WE BURN THEIR FLEET!"

"Yes sir!" Phasma almost chanted with a hypnotic gaze. Hux dismissed her with a contagious smile of wild abandon. Phasma marched off, but not to her ship. Not right away. The Captain went to a console to make contact with BB9-E to get her own update from the spy droid. Hux's enthusiasm for revenge and victory rubbed off on Phasma, but not entirely in the way Hux had planned.

BB9 wandered the halls of the Mon Cal Cruiser. The grand flag ship was a relic, a monument to past glories. The ship that would have been retired after the battle of Endor was once more unto the breach of war, and was commanded by dear friends indeed. Admiral Ackbar, Vice Admiral Holdo and General Leia walked fast down the corridor, discussing the next moves of the fleet to capitalize on their recent victory.

"We need to make way to Crait" Ackbar suggested "That will be the rallying point for our allies. The First Order has been scarred, but the wounded beast will return even more ferocious!" he warned.

"We can hide" Holdo also offered "The fleet is low on fuel, and we must seek out the supply depot at Polis Massa. The First Order is large, but mostly incompetent. We've stayed one step ahead of them, we can wait them out while they waste their efforts to find us"

"We must be ready, regardless. And we cannot take chances. We have a great victory here, but we dare not lose the advantage. We are going to need reinforcements...." Leia pondered.

BB9-E watched and listened. After recording just enough intel from the discussion, it felt the signal from Phasma on a low frequency. Subterfuge and espionage were its primary skills, and BB9 knew how to keep the signal from being recognized by the Resistance staff.

Phasma made contact with the ball droid. "Unit BB9-E! I want a status report!" The BB droid began to roll to a secluded part of the ship and transmitted its data.

"Where is the Traitor, FN-2187?" she demanded. The spy droid rolled to a terminal to download the info on Finn's whereabouts. Phasma smiled under her helmet "This plan may succeed, or it may fail....but there is ONE score I intend to settle!" she spit.

Finn was found, and Phasma fantasized a fantastic finale for him. "Listen carefully" Phasma whispered in her com link to the droid "Have him transferred to the medical frigate, with other wounded soldiers of the resistance. Then, I want you to override the controls of the frigate when you signal General Hux to begin the attack! I want to personally execute the traitor!"

BB9 whistled doubt, wondering why they should make such an overly detailed plan, but it shrugged. Phasma wanted revenge on top of victory, and her own scheme gave her a smile. BB9 tinkered with the communications system, plotting a message to the medbay on board to transfer Finn and the other wounded troops to the medical frigate.

Finn was taken by medical droids to the hanger bay and loaded into the shuttle. As the patients were loaded up, the BB9 droid followed closely.

But the Imperial spy droid, despite its disguise, was noticed by BB8. BB8 felt something was not right, not part of the programming, and certainly did not get any instructions from the bridge for such a transfer. BB8 rolled up in front of BB9.

The two droids made an exchange of beeps and whistles. BB8's curious interrogations to why Finn was being taken were met with irritated bleeps from BB9, who risked exposure the longer the exchange went on. After a few angry noises, the Imp droid blasted and shocked the surprised BB8 with jabs of electricity which stunned it long enough for the nefarious ball droid to complete its task.

Also noticing the transfer of patients were two women talking together. Rose and Paige Tico watched, a little confused "Is there supposed to be some kind of transfer?" Paige asked Rose.

"Nobody notified us" Rose became alarmed as she saw her hero, Finn, being tucked away on the shuttle. She went up to the medical droid "What's going on here?" she demanded

"Orders from the Admiral" The medic droid shrugged plainly "All wounded are to be transferred to the medical frigate."

"Where is the pilot and the rest of the shuttle crew?" Rose looked at them as the BB9-E rolled in and prepared to close the doors for launch

The medic droid shrugged again "That's not in my protocol to worry over." it wandered back to the medbay. Rose hesitated, then went into the shuttle. BB9 shut the doors and prepped for launch

"What the-??" Rose realized there were no crew on board, nobody else was there, and nobody in the pilot seat. BB9-E stayed hidden and followed through quickly with the plan, because timing was everything. The signal was to be sent, as per Hux's instructions, very soon.

BB8 snapped out of its glazed shock. Realizing Finn and others were being kidnapped, it rolled fast to find Poe.

Paige watched as the shuttle's engines burst energy, pushing past the hanger and into space. "Rose...." she also hesitated. Everything felt irregular. Paige ran for the bridge.

BB8 bumped into Poe as he was taking a diagnostic check of flight systems in a terminal on the bridge. "Hey, buddy!" he smiled. BB8 beeped and whistled, shaking frantically "Whoa, slow down. You look hectic!" he listened as his droid explained that something was amiss. Poe sensed it too. An unauthorized shuttled zoomed past the bridge to the medical frigate.

Leia looked up from the planning table "What was that?"

Holdo looked out at the shuttle "They must be taking wounded to the medical frigate"

"Who authorized this transfer?" Ackbar stared out at the ship.

"Let's not worry about them" Holdo waved it off "We need to make a plan to get more fuel."

"Sirs!" Paige entered the room "That shuttle has been hijacked! And my sister is trapped on it!!"

"They've got Finn!" Poe rushed up next to Paige.

"Who's got Finn?" Holdo looked at him like he was insane "And who IS Finn?"

"That's a long story" Leia tried to calm everyone down "Poe, take it down a notch. You're hysterical"

"But General..." Paige panicked "Nobody is flying that shuttle!"

"BB8 was attacked by an imperial droid! We've had a spy on board the ship! RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES!" Poe became irritated at the scheme.

"Calm down, flyboy!" Holdo gritted her teeth "It would be impossible for an imperial droid to compromise us! Droids aren't that smart!"

BB8 chafed, but Poe backed down a little. Just a little. "General" he pleaded "If this is just some kind of mistake, we should be able to sort it out on the medical frigate, but we must assume BB8 was attacked! We must assume the First Order is setting us up for an ambush!"

"Why take Finn to the medical frigate?" Leia looked at Poe "Why use a droid at all if they planned to attack us all along?"

"I don't know why Finn was taken, but one of our personnel was taken on a shuttle with no human pilot."

"We're getting a transmission, General!" Lieutenant Connix called out. It was from Rose Tico

"General!" Rose was scrambling around the piloting seat "I'm on board one of our shuttles, but I have no control over the ship! Someone or something is piloting the shuttle towards the Frigate!"

"Who is this?" Leia called outas everyone listened

"Oh, yes" Rose blushed "How silly....I'm Rose. I'm just a member of the crew. All I do is fix pipes-"

"-Well, today you are a pilot, and I hope you can get control of that shuttle!" Leia corrected her.

"About that" Rose hesitated "We may have an even bigger problem.....Somebody is transmitting the fleet coordinates out of the system...."

"To where?" Leia asked, equally hesitant to learn the horrible answer

Rose examined the signal and went pale "The signal is aimed at the First Order fleet, and they have confirmed our location..."

Holdo looked at Ackbar "We have to prepare to make a jump! We need to escape while we can!"

"We need to stop that signal and rescue those wounded!" Poe interjected

"General" Ackbar was calm but urgent "With this revelation, the fleet will be upon us in a matter of minutes. Even if we make the jump, the spy will reveal our next location. We do not have enough fuel to evade the First Order." Ackbar turned to the comlink "Crewman Tico, We have only minutes before the First Order launches their attack. YOU must find that spy and disable it and get that shuttle to safety!"

"Oh jeez!" Rose felt the tingling excitement and terror

"I want the fleet put on alert!" Leia commanded "We need to get ready to jump as soon as she stops that spy!"

"We need to buy her some time!" Poe breathed fast

"We don't need any reckless heroics!" Holdo warned him

"Not heroics, Admiral. Hope!" Poe tried to explain. "Remember what you always told us, General? Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it…"

Poe drifted with the words, but Holdo nodded, albeit reluctantly as she finished his statement "....You’ll never make it through the night. "

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gho77Y7TcL4 (Man in Motion)

 

"General, Permission to jump into an X-wing and blow stuff up!?"

Leia nodded reluctant approval "Permission granted..."

"Paige?" He looked to her, waiting for her equal approval

"Let's do this!" she turned to run for the door.

Poe and Paige ran for the hanger bay in a race against time! Holdo and Leia watched as they pilots ran to their fighters "He's reckless....but I like him" Holdo almost smiled

"I do too" Leia shook her head, half scared, but half filled with hope.

"Black squadron assemble! We need every fighter and bomber ready!" Poe shouted as pilots followed down the hall. BB8 beeped hurriedly "Don't wait for me, Buddy! Go prep the ship!" Poe urged his friend. BB8 scrambled ahead to ready the X-wing. "Hang in their, buddy" he almost whispered out loud "I'm coming to bring you home!"

 

Finn awoke with a start.

 

He looked around as Rose tried to find the droid. She ran a diagnostic check on the ship. "Hello?" he looked around.

Rose pulled back a control panel and found BB9-E. "THERE you are!" she growled. BB9 bleeped a hostile response, almost a short droid equivalent to a villain speech about how she was too late to stop him. The imp droid tried to zap her with an electric shock, but Rose grabbed a wrench from her tool belt and started swinging down on the droid's magnetic head. "You little bucket of trash!" she shouted. Finn could hear her shouting and fighting.

"Where am I?" he tried to move "REY? POE??" he shot up, hitting his head on the plastic cover of his medical gurney. He fell back on his pillow and fell out of bed.

Rose swatted at the droid, but it zapped blasts of electricity at her. BB9 tazered Rose just enough to stun her to the floor. It rolled up maliciously to electricute her. But in its moment of triumph, BB9-E was smashed in the head by a blunt pipe object. Finn kicked the ball away and helped Rose to her feet. "You okay?" he asked.

Rose was star struck for a second "Yeah....I'm fine. Wow. You're....you're Finn! You're him!"

Finn blushed for a second "Well....I suppose" he smiled, then looked around "Where are we?"

They suddenly saw the first Star Destroyer appear from hyperspace. Coming at them.

"It seems we are in BIG trouble!" Rose gulped.

"All wings, report in!" Pilot Jessica Pava quickly roll called Blue Squadron

Poe and the other fighters swarmed out of the cruiser. "Any sign of them yet?" Paige looked around from her gunner's nest.

Pilot L'ulo led his own A-wing squadron to support Black Squad's flank, while "Snap" Wexley and his wingmen took to another flank.

The First Order Fleet appeared in that instant, larger than life. A-wing pilot Tallie gasped "I think they spotted us!" she steeled herself. Snoke's ship appeared right behind a half dozen Star Destroyers, and quickly unleashed their tie fighters.

Finn ran to the pilot seat and threw on a headset "The First Order fleet has found us! We have tie fighters, coming in at .35!!"

"FINN!!!" Poe shouted, almost breaking into a grin "Are you okay!?"

"Buddy, I'll feel better when we dock with the frigate and get the fleet out of here!" Finn got wide eyed as he saw Phasma's sleek tie fighter coming at them with a swarm of ties following "Oh great! Captain buckethead is here!"

Poe looked around and called out to Cobalt squad "Bombers, I need you to focus on the closest Destroyers. Black squadron with me! We gotta give the fleet time to escape! LIGHT THEM UP!"

The space in between fleets became a light show of fire and grit. Black squadron smashed into the wall of ties and left the first wave in a shambles.

"Woooo!!!" X-Wing pilot Starck felt a rush as he blasted through several exploding tie fighters. Snap and Tallie followed up with paving their own trails through Imperial lines.

Phasma kept her sharp eyes purely on the shuttle. Finn was there. And she intended to burn him from the galaxy. "I got you, scum!" she open fired, blasting at one of the shuttle engines as Finn tried to steer the ship towards the medical frigate that was lingering behind the main fleet.

Poe swung back around to pick off one of Phasma's wingmen "Finn! There's a spy droid leading the First Order! We have to find it and eliminate it, or else the fleet will be destroyed!"

Tallie swished by with her squad to nail a set of tie fighters trying to attack the bombers.

Finn and Rose looked at the smashed form of BB9-E, then at each other. "I think we got him!" Rose smiled. Phasma fired on the shuttle again and shook them up. "I'll check on the engines!" Rose hurried past the other wounded to the back.

Finn tried to evade on the controls "We found the droid, and we smashed it! I'm going to try to land on the frigate, but our engines are getting hit!"

"Don't worry! I got your back!" Poe flew past the shuttle. Finn could almost see him in the cockpit as he returned fire at Phasma. Poe turned to look behind him. Phasma pursued him. Poe led her on a merry chase to distract her while contacting Leia.

"General, the spy has been destroyed! Now is a good time to get the fleet out of here to refuel!" he called out. BB8 beeped an exciting response as the Imperial fleet started to move closer.

"Just for the record, Commander Dameron, I'm with the droid on this one" Leia snarked "Admiral Ackbar, time to take the fleet to Polis Massa!"

"All ships! Make the jump to hyperspace on my mark!" The Admiral maneuvered his ship for jump, and most of the fleet pivoted with him.

Hux went pale with rage "They anticipated our arrival!! We have been compromised, AND THEY ARE GETTING AWAY!! ALL GUNS OPEN FIRE!"

The star Destroyers aimed their guns to hit the fleet, but some tried to hit the bombers as well. A swarm of the bombers unleashed their payloads on one Destroyer, obliterating it. Several squad of Y Wings also harassed the Imperial fleet with fast maneuvering.

Nien Nunb gave a chuckled as he led the Y-Wings past a fractured Star Destroyer, happy to leave the last scar on the First Order before his squad moved to make the jump into hyperspace.

"Time for us to get out of here, everyone!" Leia ordered as the klaxxon alarms sounded off "Party is over!"

"You heard the general!" Poe zipped past two more enemy fighters "Everybody out! Finn, I need you to get that shuttle on board the medical frigate!"

Phasma swings around as she notices the evacuations taking place, aiming her guns at the shuttles engines. She blasts two of the exhaust pipes. Rose and Finn felt the ship twist, creaking and tipping.

"We're losing power! Engines are down!" Rose hesitated.

Finn looked at her "Go check the back! See what you can do to get those engines back online! Without that power, we will soon be sitting ducks! POE, We are hit!! We might not make it!"

"DON'T YOU GIVE UP ON ME, BUDDY!!" Poe returned fire on another wave of fighters as he turned around to stop Phasma. A couple of X-Wings got plastered by the fighting around them, but most of the fighters and bombers were jumping away with the main ships.

"Buckethead has us, we're almost dead in the water!" Finn watched as, one by one, the rebel fighters made their jumps into hyperspace. The medical frigate captain announced its prepping to jump as tie fighters blasted at its shields and hull. "20 seconds to launch!" The Captain called out from the bridge.

"We're out of time!" Finn struggled with the controls to steer.

"I can't get enough power back to get us moving!" Rose kicked the engines as sparks popped around her.

"I'm coming, Buddy!" Poe zeroed in on Phasma as she turned around to blast Finn head on.

"This is what we do tho traitors!" Phasma pressed her trigger button, but then looked up as an X-wing fired its guns and prepared to ram her "W-WHAT??" she stuttered. Poe veered so close to her with reckless determination, he clipped her wing, sending her spiraling off out of control. Poe cheered for a small moment, but realized he had destroyed one of his own S foils to stop her. He was without any steering power.

Pow watched on as The rest of the fleet was escaping. Leia waited in vain for the medical frigate and the shuttle to get away, but there was no time. The Command cruiser vanished, and she looked at Holdo. Both of them wondered how many the Resistance would lose today.

"15 seconds to hyper jump!" the Captain announced on the medical frigate, trying to urge Finn to land the shuttle. But Finn could barely get the ship moving, and a 3rd wave of Tie fighters were buzzing in fast.

"WILL SOMEBODY DESTROY SOMETHING???" Hux screamed as his bridge crew ran around, trying to focus their efforts on the remaining ships.

"I'm sorry, Buddy" Finn shook his head "Just get out of here! I can't get to the frigate!"

"Maybe you can't" Poe started flipping some swithes "BUT WE CAN!!" he yanked at his steering to push his X Wing above the shuttle "BB8! Activate our magnetic landing gear! I got a plan!!"

BB8 beeped frantically as it opened the landing gear to connect to the Shuttle. Poe felt his ship clump down on the shuttle.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Finn looked up and around.

"Your steering! My engines!! Come on, guys! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!!!"

"The hanger bay is too small! You'll be smashed!!" Finn freaked out. But Poe had set the plan in motion.

"FIVES SECONDS!!" The Frigate Captain got really nervous as his crew were itching hands on the hyperjump controls.

"Hit the engines!!!" Poe felt the edge and adrenalin as BB8 put the X-wing on full thrust. They could make it. They were going to make it!!

"Woooo!!!" Finn yelled as he and Rose braced. The X-Wing's power gave them the boost they needed as Finn clumsily steered right into the Frigate's small hanger bay. Poe's cockpit got bent and pummeled as they pushed into the bay. His windshield cracked, and he could feel a hint of the vacuum that awaited him if the plan went awry. But no one was expendable, and no one was getting left behind.

Finn stuck the landing, and the Frigate blasted away into a halo of welcome light, exiting to escape with the narrowest margin of success.

Phasma gave out a swear word.

General Hux screamed from his bridge, a fury unheard by the rest of the galaxy

On board the Frigate, the deck crew cheered at the near impossible Picardian maneuver that was just witnessed. Poe, Finn and Rose screamed with joy, filled with a rush.

Everyone on the bridge of the Mon Cal cruiser listened as the trio cheered loudly. Leia and Holdo looked at each other and breathed relief. Ackbar nodded and sighed. C3PO listened as Poe and Finn screamed happily. "Listen to them!" C3PO despaired "They're Dying, General! Curse my metal body! We weren't fast enough!"

"We're okay!!!" Poe yelled "We made it! Thanks to you, Finn!!!"

"No....thanks to you, my man!!" Finn cheered equally. Then he whispered almost proudly "My man!"

They jumped out of their ships as medical crews transported the other wounded resistance personnel from the shuttle. Poe almost struck a pose as he jumped from his wrecked fighter. He climbed down to meet Finn and Rose, then grabbed them all in a huge hug.

"You did it!" Poe grinned

"You kidding me! What with...What you...Did you SEE what...?? Rose! Did you see that!?"

Rose blushed and looked at her two heroes "You two were amazing! You saved a lot of lives today..."

Poe and Finn looked at her "YOU did something amazing too". Poe looked into her eyes with some sparkle "Your sister is going to be so proud of you"

"Paige? Wait, you know my sister?" She still stammered with awe

"She talks about you all the time".

"I'm nobody. I didn't do anything" She chuckled nervously, half modestly

"There's no such word as nobody in the resistance! We are a team!" Finn hugged her again and looked at Poe with a huge grin. "We are the spark that's going to bring down the First Order! All of us."

Poe nodded "It's not about destroying what we hate...."

Rose smiled big at them "....But saving what we love!" They gave out another round of warm fuzzies, and shared hugs with BB8 and anyone else nearby. Poe and Finn smiled again at each other, and the stars felt rightly aligned as they palled around with their arms on each others' shoulders.

It was a long trip to Polis Massa, but the excitement of escape lasted for hours. After so much worry over Finn, Poe couldn't stand to be away, even to get debriefed or examined by medical droids. Finn also wanted to catch up on everything that had been happening, including contact with Rey. They hoped she could find Skywalker and give the Resistance a new edge. Because this second burn on the First Order was a truly salty wound for Hux, and his wrath would be twice as hot the next time they clashed. Phasma would also continue the hunt, her rage more fiery for revenge against the defiant Finn.

But for now, All was good. Poe showered and rested in his room after checking up on the rest of the pilots and bombers. There were losses, but fast thinking by team players prevented results that could have been much worse. He gave a small bit of thanks for the people that made this victory possible.

As if the Force itself heard his humble prayer of gratitude, the timely arrival of Finn snapped him out of his thoughts. Finn knocked on his door, leaving Poe with a pleasant look of surprise.

"Want some company?" Finn asked, almost sheepishly.

Their eyes locked, and Poe's heart gave a small flutter. How could he refuse? The stars were shining bright in Polis Massa, and the two of them marveled at how the galaxy glowed on them tonight.


End file.
